Chindits

The Chindits were a special contingent of British Army troops which fought the Japanese in Burma from 1942 to 1944 under the command of Orde Wingate. The name "Chindit" came from the guardian statues that guarded Burmese Buddhist pagodas. The Chindits subscribed to Wingate's "long-range penetration" style of guerrilla warfare, embarking on long marches through the jungle to raid Japanese positions. They were underfed and suffered from high casualties not only from battle, but also from malaria and dysentery - by mid-April 1943, a third of the Chindits were dead, and the remainder returned to India. In 1944, they moved into northern Burma to cut Japanese supply routes during Joseph Stilwell's joint Republic of China-United States offensive in the north, with the Japanese focusing on a British diversion in the south. The Chindits proved invaluable during the campaign, which would also see the British decoy force win the Battle of the Admin Box on 5-23 February 1944.